


Shikaeshi, Manzoku

by BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse



Series: Naruto Fics [47]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Uchiha Sasuke, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Bashing, Character Critical, Child Neglect, Conspiracy, Dark Uchiha Sasuke, Dark Uzumaki Naruto, Friends to Lovers, Konohagakure | Hidden Leaf Village, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-15
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:08:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24727240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse/pseuds/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse
Summary: Uchiha Sasuke, the neglected second son of the massacred Uchiha clan. Uzumaki Naruto, the outcast orphan living on the streets. Destiny and prophecy twisted until only ashes remain.a dark sasunaru canon divergence au where everything is awful and the shinobi world is tinder ready to be burned.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: Naruto Fics [47]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1473923
Comments: 10
Kudos: 199





	Shikaeshi, Manzoku

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Keibatsu](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20498882) by [BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse/pseuds/BoyGirlBothNoneImTheUniverse). 



> oop here i am, back at it again with a wip. i need to stress that while there are outlines for several more chapters, this story is NOT finished and will be updated only when i think of what the hell happens next.
> 
> some vague warnings for this story: canon typical violence, child neglect/abuse, conspiracies (that are for the most part proven true), and character critical views that are biased.

* * *

**Shikaeshi, Manzoku**

* * *

**i. Sasuke**

Sasuke is still a young boy when he realizes that he is what is called a 'spare heir.'

It is not obvious to him, not at first. He does not come out of his mother's womb instantly knowing that he is the spare child. It takes years of indifference and borderline neglect for him to realize that he and Itachi are not the same and they never would be.

Itachi is attentive towards him. His older brother loves him deeply and without restraint. Sasuke can be anybody he wants to be, can do whatever he wants, and Itachi will stand there and support him whole-heartedly. Sasuke appreciates that.

His parents are a different story.

His father is more obvious with his lack of care. His obvious preference for Itachi is painful in a big way. Itachi is the Uchiha clan heir, the genius son whose talents lend him as the perfect example of a prodigy. Fugaku focuses on that, gives all his affection to that ideal, and there is never any left over to direct towards his less talented, not as important, son.

His mother is better at caring, but even she has expectations of Sasuke that make it quite clear who she truly cares for more. "Why can't you be more like your brother?" is a common question during Sasuke's early years, so much so that he can still hear the question ringing in his ears even when she isn't there to scold him. The question always makes Sasuke's stomach drop, a twisted envy entering his heart as she once more values her older son over her younger. She gets them confused sometimes too. Itachi might like something that has never held Sasuke's interest in any way and his mother will give it to him like it isn't Itachi's favorite. She will cook Itachi's favorite foods on his birthday, surprised when Sasuke barely eats any of it.

"Your mother worked hard on making you dinner," Fugakua will grunt. " _Eat_."

It is not the cold shoulder or clear disdain that his father shows him, but it is enough to hurt, over and over.

Itachi is much better at knowing who Sasuke is and how talented he can become. Itachi might be the prodigy when it comes to physical prowess at such a young age, but Sasuke has his own talents. Sasuke is smart. That's not to say that Itachi isn't smart. You need to have some wits to you to survive the shinobi profession. No, Sasuke is just smart in a way that Itachi doesn't seem to hold. Sasuke sees things and realizes that there is always more going on just below the surface. Sasuke does not trust everything he is told, nor does he feel the _need_ to do everything he is ordered to do. There is always more going on in the background and Itachi is such a good soldier that he never once questions those things. He is always told what he needs to know and never goes in search of any other answers.

Sasuke would make an awful soldier, thus he isn't as good of a shinobi as Itachi is. His parents see his questions and his petulant disobedience and instead of seeing a future leader who fights for those who are being kept in the dark, they see a failed soldier.

Itachi understands; as much as he can, anyway. He makes an effort where no one else, not his parents and not his clan, ever tries to understand.

Sasuke loves Itachi to the very bottom of his heart and soul. And then Itachi picks up a sword and slaughters their entire clan par him.

"To make himself stronger?" Sasuke asks himself from his hospital bed, staring blankly up at the white ceiling. It doesn't make sense to him. Nothing about Itachi's actions that night make any sense. Sasuke knows Itachi better than Itachi can ever know him. Knowing Itachi is one of Sasuke's specialties. Itachi is a soldier who always follows orders. Itachi, even as the pinnacle of excellence in the bloody shinobi world, always wants peace. Itachi doing something as selfish as killing their entire clan simply because he wants to 'test himself'? Not likely. Itachi doing it because he is _ordered_ to do it?

Sasuke narrows his eyes and thinks, _ding ding ding, we have a winner._

After a week in the hospital, he is visited by the Sandaime Hokage. Sasuke is still young and still very much traumatized and confused. The Hokage slips into his room and calls what happened an unfortunate _incident_. That he wishes he had been in time to avoid it from ever occurring. _It was a massacre,_ Sasuke thinks as he watches the Hokage leave, _n_ _ot an incident_.

The entire time the Hokage stands there, placating no one but himself, Sasuke wonders. Wishing and doing are two different things and the fact that the Hokage felt like he could have, somehow, avoided Itachi killing the clan doesn't sit right with Sasuke. What does the Hokage know, _what is he hiding_ , that he's choosing not to share with the last Uchiha left in Konoha?

Sasuke soon finds that he hates. He hates Itachi. Just because he suspects that Itachi was following orders that night doesn't mean he's going to ignore the fact that he still followed them. He is such a good, faithful soldier to his own ideas of good morals and peace that he killed hundreds of people, his own flesh and blood. More than half of the clan were Uchiha civilians. Merchants and children and old grannies that used to babysit them when their parents were busy. Itachi didn't let a single other Uchiha besides Sasuke walk away that night. No one else will be left to tell the true tale of the Uchiha clan. Sasuke doesn't hate Itachi for the reasons that everyone else thinks he does, but rather because Itachi has proven himself to be a spineless, status quo following coward, who did nothing to stop something grotesque from happening.

Sasuke also learns to hate the village. Konoha stands before him, untouched by the tragedy that is now invasive to Sasuke's very livelihood. He's made the decision to follow his gut, which means the village has something to do with his clan's demise. Whether it was a direct order or willing ignorance, Sasuke doesn't care. Someone in power has to know what Itachi planned on doing. It could be someone on a council or it coould be the Hokage himself. Someone in power is not ignorant to the truth behind the Uchiha clan massacre, and since no one has come to share that information, he must make the decision to no longer put any trust into Konoha.

So Sasuke sits in his classes, learns the victor's version of Konoha's history, and he questions. He questions things twice as often as he did before. Did they really attack unprovoked, or was this another example of Konoha washing away the truth and filling its younger generation with propaganda and lies?

He can't tell, not yet, so he stays silent and gathers as much information as he can until he can tell the difference. He stays silent and he ever so carefully makes _plans_.

* * *

**i. Naruto**

Naruto's first memory is of the matron at the orphanage. She is cleaning a cut on his face, a dark look in her eyes. She is clearly not happy to be there touching him, but she doesn't grip him tight enough to bruise. Her hands are as gentle as she can make them, even if her face is not. She scowls as she carefully cleans him up, bandaging his wounds and sneering at his watery eyes.

"A monster in a child's body," she mutters to herself as she puts the supplies away.

She does not hit him. She helps him heal his obvious wound, but she has just started a more hidden one.

Others are harsher, whether by words or fists. The adults don't hit him, but the other kids do. The kids say rude things along with their blows, but it is the scorn and open encouragement of his abuse from the adults that truly hurts. No one loves him and he is alone.

He quickly learns that kind words mean nothing if they are not followed by kind actions.

It's this exact knowledge that shapes his impression of his first encounter with the Hokage. When the Sandaime Hokage shows up at the orphanage and demands he be given his own room, Naruto is not happy about it. It might get him away from his bullies, might give him a sanctuary, but it comes at a cost. It isolates him. It takes him away from the kids his own age and it means others won't be forced to be around him. They can leave him by his lonesome, or they can search him out and hurt him without anyone around to witness their abuse. Naruto fears that this will be the start of the physical abuse from adults that he has always feared.

He yells incoherently at the Hokage, blubbering nonsense in his panic. The old man looks shocked and then visibly annoyed by his attitude. The Hokage frowns deeply down at him, unimpressed. "You should be grateful," he tells Naruto. He leaves after this, not a single backward glance given in Naruto's direction. Naruto cries long enough for the Hokage to leave before he abruptly stops, drying fake tears with his dirty and ragged shirt sleeves. He now has proof enough that the Hokage does not truly care for him. A child panicking and scared in front of him and he snaps and tells him he should be grateful for something that could lead to the child getting abused? No, he clearly does not care for Naruto like he claims to.

When the orphanage kicks him out, instead of giving him his own room, he is not surprised. He goes without a fight. The Hokage seemingly never follows up after his first visit because he never goes out of his way to get Naruto, a young child, back under a roof. Naruto floats from hiding place to hiding place before he finds his home behind a dumpster.

It is here that Naruto meets the ramen man.

He's seen him around before, Naruto knows. He is a food vendor with a daughter and no wife in sight. Naruto sees his worn clothing and can tell that he too is struggling, even if it is to a lesser extent than Naruto. He frowns when he sees Naruto, a worried crease between his brows, before he looks nervously towards the opening of the alley.

He doesn't take Naruto in and Naruto doesn't expect him to. He thinks about the others calling him a monster, how unwanted he truly is, and he never even bothers to get his hopes up. Besides, Naruto somehow doubts the Hokage will let such a thing occur; he's clearly fine with Naruto living on the street.

The man, in an act of genuine kindness that Naruto has never experienced until that day, leaves and then returns with several thick blankets in hand. He continues to visit from time to time, even when Naruto has wandered off to a different part of the village. He will return and find a worn, _but clean_ , shirt stashed in his little nest behind his abandoned dumpster. The man will stop by and leave small snacks almost every day, the occasional container of lukewarm broth accompanying his gifts around lunch and dinner time. It isn't the most nutritious diet, but Naruto would be eating out of trash cans without the man's kindness, so he doesn't feel the need to complain. Naruto sees the effort the older man is putting in, the slumped shoulders of an overworked civilian, so Naruto simply remains grateful that he has found someone who has both kind words and kind actions.

Naruto decides that when he burns Konoha to the ground, he will spare the man and his ramen stand.

**Author's Note:**

> shikaeshi-retaliation, reprisal, being even
> 
> manzoku-satisfaction, contentment, gratification


End file.
